Carolina Hurricanes general manager Jim Rutherford anticipated a quiet holiday weekend, a day after the free agent signing period opened.

Rutherford, who heard from the agent of former Hurricanes defenseman Joe Corvo on Thursday, said it didn’t look likely that Corvo would return. Rutherford would like to have the Oak Park, Ill., native back in the Carolina fold, but Corvo is looking for more money than the Hurricanes can afford.

“It looks like he’s going to be out of our reach,” he said.

Rutherford said defensemen Alexandre Picard and Brett Carson were still options. The team offered the free agents contracts that would have removed their minor league clauses early this week. When the sides couldn’t agree on money, the Hurricanes elected not to qualify the offers, which would have given the players arbitration rights. As a result, they both became unrestricted free agents on Thursday.

“They’re still in the mix,” Rutherford said.

Talk about a strong finishing kick. The Canes' turned what appeared to be a fairly quiet trade deadline day into a bang-up, wholesale lineup change with a late rush.

Defenseman Aaron Ward and Scott Walker were traded just after noon. About three hours later, just before the NHL's 3 p.m. deadline, the Canes dealt defenseman Joe Corvo to the Washington Capitals for defenseman Brian Pothier, Finnish forward Oskar Osala and a second-round pick.

Defenseman Andrew Alberts was sent to the Vancouver Canucks for a third-round pick, and forward Stephane Yelle to the Colorado Avalanche.

Canes defenseman Joe Corvo, as expected, was activated from injured reserve and should play tonight against the Calgary Flames.

The team also said forward Tuomo Ruutu had been placed on injured reserve.

Corvo has been out the last 28 games after being slashed on the lower leg by Karl Alzner of the Washington Capitals in the Nov. 30 game at the RBC Center.

Canes coach Paul Maurice says defenseman Joe Corvo is probable for Wednesday's game against the Calgary Flames.

Corvo last played in the Nov. 30 game against Washington, when he suffered a lower-leg laceration after being slashed by the skate of the Caps' Karl Alzner.  He was placed on injured reserve Dec. 1 and was expected to miss two to three months.

"He's wanted to feel completely comfortable before returning," Maurice said. "He's still ahead of schedule."

The Carolina Hurricanes placed defenseman Joe Corvo on injured reserve Tuesday.

He's expected to miss 8-12 weeks after his lower right leg was slashed
by the skate of Washington defenseman Karl Alzner in a collision along
the boards in Monday's 3-2 loss to the Capitals.

RALEIGH — In the aftermath of the Washington Capitals' 3-2 win over the Carolina Hurricanes at the RBC Center Monday night, both teams are concerned for the health of key players but neither team shed much light on the severity of the injuries.

Carolina Hurricanes defenseman Joe Corvo was taken to a nearby hospital, cut by a skate near his right calf.

And Washington Capitals Alex Ovechkin, arguably the league's best forward, suffered a knee injury for a play that got him ejected from the game.

Canes defenseman Joe Corvo is a perceptive, introspective type of guy. He also can be pretty blunt when it comes to expressing his feelings.

So what has the 12-game winless streak been like for him and his teammates?

"Pretty painful," he said. "It's like there's a wake every day in the locker room, like we're burying somebody."

The Carolina Hurricanes have bought out the remaining year on the contract of defenseman Frantisek Kaberle.

Kaberle, 35, was due to make $2.2 million this coming season. With the buyout, he will collect two-thirds, or about $1.5 million, of that amount over the next two seasons.

"We wanted to change the makeup of our defense, make our defense bigger," said Carolina general manager Jim Rutherford, who notably brought back defenseman Aaron Ward in a trade with the Boston Bruins and picked up Andrew Alberts in free agency.

Rutherford said Kaberle became expendable after the Hurricanes traded for Joe Corvo in February 2008, which "covered up the strengths of [Frank's] game."

The sweep at the hands of the Penguins still stung for Niclas Wallin and Joe Corvo three days later, especially knowing it was Carolina’s inability to stop Pittsburgh’s offense that was the Hurricanes’ downfall in the end.

As they met with the media Friday, they looked back with some introspection at what went wrong on the blue line against the Penguins.

From Talking Points: 

Joe Corvo took a big shot in overtime of Game 3 on Sunday, moments before the Devils scored the winner to in a 3-2 victory to take a 2-1 lead in the series, and you don’t have to know Corvo that well to know how badly he wanted that shot to go in.

His blunder in the waning seconds of the first period put the Canes down a goal, and he took a beating in search of redemption, butt-ended in the face by Bobby Holik (drawing a penalty) and slashed on the back of the left knee by Colin White late in the third period (when the officials weren’t looking).

Read more here.